Essay: The Disturbing Story of Charles Manson and His Cult



There is a long history of cults throughout American culture. Cults are both intriguing

and frightening at the same time. Many of them start off with one person that has one belief, usually having something to do with religion. Although, it is crazy to think one person can have such an effect on people. This cult in particular was started because of “Helter Skelter”. This was a race war that was made up by a man that had a plan to rid the United States of African Americans. Charles Manson was a cult leader known for his control over his “family” and the murders he told them to commit in the late 1960’s.

Charles Manson was a troubled kid growing up, so it is really no surprise that he turned out the way he did. Born to a teenage mother and raised by relatives, he was in and out of reformatories and jail by the age of 32. Washed up in San Francisco, he began styling himself as a hippie guru, hanging around bars and giving out scientology information he picked up on the streets. (Gillis, Charlie) Manson was very inspired by the Beatles “White” album. “ Actually what Manson did with "The White Album" was, just as he used the Book of Revelation to brainwash his followers, he would use the Beatles' music for the same reason. He didn't allow them to listen to much outside music. ”  (Fresh Air) He tried and failed many times to impress music producers. It is said that he didn’t know how to self­censor and repeatedly “shot himself in the foot”. (Rule,

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 Ann) This would eventually lead to one of the murders he commanded his family to do. During this time, a lot of people were very into drugs and music. This is how Charlie held his control over the Manson family. Manson had a normal to high average IQ, from what the prison tests have shown. (Rule, Ann) He was very fascinated with reading books about mind­control and pseudo philosophy. He practiced this by studying Dale Carnegie and L. Ron Hubbard .   After spending a short time with him, he would then invite them to live with him wherever that was at the time being. Eventually he found his way to Spahn Ranch. An old movie set that was located out in the desert. It had plenty of space for his family and all the illegal antics he wanted to do. A majority of his family being women, he was always have sexual relations with them. “  His treatment of women was despicable yet fascinating. His plots were multidimensional and psychotic, but they worked for a very long time. He was quite comfortable playing "Jesus Christ." (Rule, Ann)   He never committed to one woman and many of the girls had children while living at the ranch. They would have parties and Charlie would give everyone drugs and hallucinogens, but Charlie himself would not take the drugs. This would give him the upper hand by feeding his people whatever he wanted them to know. Being under the influence and naive, the men and women believed every word Manson told them.

After a few months of living on the ranch, there were a select few that Charlie would have run errands for him. He would tell them to steal cars and bring them back so they could take it apart and sell the car parts. Family members had filtered in and out of the Spahn Ranch, but a few dedicated members stayed for what the world knows best. His right hand man was Tex Watson, did a majority of the dirty work. Some of the women involved were Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Mary Brunner. These were not the only women

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 apart of the family, but they are the only ones that committed murder. Sharon Tate was a well­known actress who was married to Roman Polanski and 8­months pregnant at the time. She unfortunately just moved into 10050 Cielo Drive, where previously the man who turned down Charlie lived. After not being signed by the record company, Manson started to seek revenge. He gathered some of his members to go on a “night crawl”. Something they did frequently by taking advantage of the unlocked houses in the middle of the night. On August 8, 1969, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Linda Kasabian, and Tex Watson to Cielo Drive. He had willingly set this group of family members off to kill all alone. Tex Watson cut off the phone line while the rest scaled the side of the hill to jump over the high fence. Before they even got to the house they killed an innocent man named Steve Parent. He was visiting the caretaker of the house and was shot in his car while leaving. From evidence and assumptions, they proceeded into the house where they found their next four victims. Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski were both found only a few feet away from each other, shot and stabbed on the front lawn. Jay Sebring was another unlucky victim in the house that night. Like the others, he was shot and stabbed. He also had a bloody towel covering his face. The most famous person from any of these murders to be killed was Sharon Tate. She was murdered in cold blood by a couple of the family members. Before they left, Tex made sure to write on the walls in the victim's blood for when the cops found it the next day. This was a brutal and surprising mass murder that no one saw coming.

The night before wasn’t enough for Manson considering he went out and had them do the same thing the next night. He also wasn’t satisfied with the work they had done, so he decided that he should join on their escapade. His family members invaded the LaBianca home the evening of August 10, 1969 and continued what they did the previous night, homicide. Manson

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 had everyone from the previous night plus one tagalong, Leslie Van Houten. They invaded the residence and put the husband and wife tied up in separate rooms. Tex was the one to murder Leno Labianca and carved the word “War” in his chest with the bayonet used to kill him. The family conducted those hellacious murders on two summer nights in August of 1969. However, Charlie and his family were finally caught. Their carefree lifestyle and lack of cleaning up their evidence is what got them arrested. During the murders they were heavily influenced by LSD and cocaine, which is no excuse for the killings of those innocent people. Charlie and his family then moved to Barker Ranch. Linda Kasabian fled back to her hometown in New Hampshire and Tex Watson went to Texas. Although a very paranoid Charlie lived out a few weeks until the police had caught up to him. They had invaded Barker Ranch, arresting 17 members of the family. They didn’t find Manson on the first invasion, but he was soon caught hiding in a cabinet in a cabin in the middle of the desert. This was the beginning of a very lengthy and difficult trial for the defense attorney's. In early 1971 is when Charlie was convicted and sentenced to the death penalty. After the police retrieved Tex from Texas, which is where he fled to soon after the murders took place. He was tried separately and was given the same sentence as Manson. It didn’t help that he had family members fighting for his freedom outside of the courtroom every day. During the trial, Manson did many dramatic things to catch the attention of his followers and people watching from home. He creatively carved a swastika into his forehead and not soon after the rest of his family had followed in pursuit. It didn’t help that the rest of the family members were outside the courtroom every day until the trial was over.

Charles Manson has tried for parole every chance he got. Now in his 90’s, there is no chance of him seeing the free world. Although, his time in prison hasn’t been normal for all

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 those years. He is the most infamous murderer and continuously gets fan mail sent to him in prison. He has women swooning over him, offering marriage and money. Not so much in his older age, but he had a lot of women after him when he was fresh into prison. He has always been in and out of maximum security and confinement, considering what he did that time. Susan Atkins died of cancer behind bars in 2009. For the rest of them, they are still behind bars.   The likelihood of the members left of the manson family to get out of prison are very unlikely.

Charles Manson was a cult leader known for his control over his family and the murders he told them to commit in the late 1960’s. His sociopathic ways led him to being apart of one of the most infamous cults known in history. This man was able to control a large group of naive individuals and conduct them to mass murder. Drugs and hallucinogens helped with the process of the mind control. He wasn’t the first cult leader and he will not be the last.

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